What to Expect During Family of Readers

While we discuss different books at each meeting, the meeting structure remains the same for every meeting.  Here it is:

• Ice breaker with the goal of making personal connections with the book and class participants.

• Discussion inspired by golden lines and student one-on-one conferences. Usually, this leads to a discussion about the book’s themes.

• Discussion about the book’s structure, writer’s craft, and literary devices. 

• As a closing, we’ll rate the book and do the golden line/early bird prize drawing.

Finally, here are a few key points to keep in mind for every meeting:

• In all of our discussions, we will be respectful of opinions that might be different from our own.  I will encourage everyone to use I statements. 

• To help prepare students for future literary analysis, I will encourage students to reference parts of the text that support their comments and opinions.  

• Our meeting discussion is flexible if participants want to take the conversation in a different direction. I love being surprised by ideas I never considered when reading the text. 

• I don’t want Family of Readers to feel like an extension of the school day.  I want it to be an opportunity to experience the joy of reading with fabulous family and friends.